The PlayStation 4 is doing very well. How well? Sony has revealed that its seemingly unstoppable console has now shifted a staggering 25.3m units worldwide, and its sales are only increasing. The PS4 shifted roughly three million units in the three months up to the end of June. That's up from 2.7 million during the same quarter last year.
That's without any significant price cuts either, though it's worth noting that, in the UK at least, retailers frequently offer very competitive console and games bundle deals and engage in ruthless undercutting tactics that other markets rarely mimic. Sales are so good, that the PlayStation division has helped triple the Japanese company's profits. Net profit rose to ¥82.4bn (£425m) while operating profit rose to ¥96.8bn (£498m).
As a result, Sony has increased its projected sales for the hardware for the financial year, now expecting to shift 16.5m units, up from a predicted 16m. If that figure holds true, the PS4 will have entered a staggering 39m homes globally by March 2016.
Only 1.4 million Xbox console units were sold by Microsoft in the same three month period, 53 per cent fewer than PS4, but a healthy 27 per cent increase on the previous year. It is unclear how many of these units sold were Xbox Ones. PS3 sales during the previous quarter are unknown, but sales of the last generation console have been steadily decreasing each year.
This unprecedented success has led Sony to increase its full year sales projections from 16 million to 16.5 million. The company has said before that it was genuinely surprised by the success of the console. PS4 has consistently overshadowed its competition since launched in November 2013, shipping a total of 22.3 million units as of April this year.
The PS4 still has some way to go to beat its predecessor the PlayStation 2 though -- l0aunched in May 2000 and enjoying an unprecedented 12 years on sale before being officially discontinued, the popular machine sold 155m units. It's not just Sony's most successful console, but the most successful gaming platform that's ever been released.
